Abelardo Morell's stunning camera obscura images

Saint Lazare Train Station

By utilizing a basic principle of optics once used by Renaissance artists like Canaletto and Vermeer, photographer Abelardo Morell builds a “camera obscura” with which to capture unique views of landscapes and architectural wonders.

“Using these techniques allow me to sneak up on the world with a surprising view of it,” Morell told CBS News’ Serena Altschul.

Pictured: “View of Saint Lazare Train Station, Paris, France, 2015.”

Credit: Abelardo Morell

Setting Up

Photographer Abelardo Morell uses a technique called “camera obscura” - Latin for darkened room. A thin ray of light streaming into a darkened space casts an upside-down image. A basic principle of optics, it predates even photography, used by artists like Canaletto and Vermeer.

First, Morell and his team black out a room’s windows with plastic and duct tape, turning the room itself into essentially a giant camera’s “insides.” Then, when Morell cuts a hole in the plastic and puts a lens against the glass, something magical happens: the room’s exterior view is projected against the opposing wall upside-down, which Morell then photographs. (Sometime he flips the projections with a prism, making the images right side-up.)

Credit: CBS News

New York City

“View of Manhattan and the Chrysler Building Looking West, New York, 2015,” by Abelardo Morell.

Credit: Abelardo Morell

Viewing Projection

Abelardo Morell told Serena Altschul, “Looking at the world through these little lenses maybe kind of brings you back to your first experiences of seeing, which were fabulous. As kids, everything kind of seems interesting - ‘A little light on the wall? Wow!’”

Credit: CBS News

Eiffel Tower

It was the surprising reaction of his students at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design that inspired Morell to take his very first photograph using the principle of camera obscura, in 1991. “They were, I think, in awe,” he said. “There was almost a religious silence. That struck me as a deep experience.”

Oregon Coastline

Tent Camera

When Morell was commissioned in 2010 to photograph Big Bend National Park in Texas, he thought, “Why don’t I try to make a portable device that could let me photograph?”

Credit: Abelardo Morell

Chisos Mountains

Erecting a tent at Big Bend National Park to project the image on its inner wall, Morell realized, “’Wow, the ground is quite wonderful and it changes by the mile. So why not try to make a 90° camera obscura throw, so that the ground actually receives an image?’”

Credit: Abelardo Morell

Old Faithful

“View of Old Faithful Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming” by Abelardo Morell.

Tower Hill

Grand Canyon

“View of the Grand Canyon from Trailview Overlook, Grand Canyon National Park, 2012” by Abelardo Morell.

Credit: Abelardo Morell

Golden Gate Bridge

Morell has taken his tent camera on the road, including to the grounds of the Presidio in San Francisco.

Pictured: “View of the Golden Gate Bridge From Battery East” by Abelardo Morell.

Credit: Abelardo Morell

New York City

A rooftop’s asphalt provides the texture of Morell’s tent camera image of Midtown Manhattan in 2010.

Credit: Abelardo Morell

New York City

“View of Midtown Manhattan Looking East, 2010” by Abelardo Morell.

Credit: Abelardo Morell

Wrigley Field

The dirt on and around home plate was the canvas for Morell’s image of Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

Credit: Abelardo Morell

Tent Camera

Morell sets up his tent camera on the Brooklyn waterfront.

“It’s like working in an old-fashioned kind of way, like the old photographers who brought donkeys up a mountain with big cameras,” Morell said. “It reminds me that, you know, it takes work to make interesting art.”